#3 Develop and Train Leaders -Leadership Questions from Gingko Fellows

- How to develop and train leaders?-


During a workshop with 9 Chinese social entrepreneurs (Gingko Fellows), hosted by I-Genius, in collaboration with the British Council, Beijing, in July 2011, I was thrilled to be invited to meet with the fellows and exchange concepts on leadership. After this tour, full of visits to great social enterprises, the fellows returned to China with fresh new ideas on leading the future of philanthropic development in the Far East.

Here's the series of transcripts of the session we had together.

#3- How to develop and train leaders?

Whoever will train leaders needs to have the spirit of a leader in them.  

Your methodology, your style, your experience, will be copied and ought to inspire others.

First of all people must choose you or adopt you as a leader/role-model…

You can’t just put this badge on your jacket without being chosen… You can’t learn the ins and outs of leadership in a textbook either.

It’s something you need to grow with, feel, challenge, bring your soul in it, and you have to develop your own style.

Some useful tips to keep close to you along the way:

- Always keep your vision in sight.

- Engage your audience to develop and test what leads you to your vision

- Create environments where people come up with their own solutions and test them in pilot projects.

- Nurture your flexibility and your eagerness to learn.

When you are in position to develop other leaders, I am very much for coaching instead of training. I am in favour of exposing them to organisations, individuals and situations that will encourage them to think and develop solutions. 

Great leaders will be in touch with the long term vision, and know how to surround themselves with the right people who possess technical and executive skills to take care of short and middle term objectives.

In addition, it’s important to measure relevant progress against what you state in our vision and mission. Use simple systems that everybody else adhere to and understand!

Check our Beesmap methodology to support your leadership journey.

To be Continued.